Homeless teen seeks sanctuary in ‘Shelter’

“Gimme Shelter” is a simplistic, faintly emotional account of a pregnant teen’s desperate search for help and compassion with the huge decision she faces. It’s simplistic because the script glosses over the messy details of the path she chooses. But it’s emotional because we know those messy details.

Agnes (Vanessa Hudgens) is 16 and poor, the daughter of a drug addict (Rosario Dawson) who had her too young. Agnes, who decides she wants to be called “Apple,” is all piercings, dirty clothes and tattoos. And if she needs a case study in how life can go wrong by having a baby at that age, she can look at mom — a raging, staggering horror in her early 30s.

But Apple runs away. With just a little cash, the clothes on her back and an address, she sets out in search of the father she’s never met: A suburban dad (Brendan Fraser) with two kids, a gorgeous French wife (Stephanie Szostak) and enough guilt to take her in. But the wife won’t stand for it.

Hudgens seems to revel in playing Apple. The character attracts violence and seems capable of it, too.

“Gimme Shelter” has many of the hallmarks of a faith-based film, the ways it lays out Apple’s dilemma, the people who offer hope and her resistance to ministry.

A priest (James Earl Jones) and a shelter run by the understanding Kathy (Ann Dowd) offer Apple sanctuary. Does she have the sense to take it, or will she bring the problems of her world crashing into theirs?